TOPEKA — A Leavenworth County District Court judge held off on a decision Monday on whether to lift a temporary restraining order he placed on CoreCivic last month, stopping the company from housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at its vacant Leavenworth prison.
Judge John Bryant said he would take CoreCivic’s motion to reconsider the temporary restraining order “under advisement.” He ordered the city of Leavenworth and Core-Civic to finalize the wording for the temporary restraining order.
Scott Peterson, Leavenworth city manager, said there were no rulings issued from the hearing, although the judge did hear arguments from both parties on whether or not to reconsider the temporary restraining order.
In a June hearing, Bryant placed a temporary restraining order on CoreCivic to keep the company from accepting ICE detainees until a case could be settled between the city of Leavenworth and CoreCivic. The parties are at odds over whether CoreCivic has to go through the city’s development process to receive a special use permit before reopening the prison, which was closed in 2021.
CoreCivic has sought to reopen the facility as the Midwest Regional Reception Center. The company asked the judge to reconsider the temporary restraining order, revealing it had a contract with ICE that would pay $4.2 million per month to house immigrants in its vacant Leavenworth facility.
